Raphael Stevens

Satellite communications giant Viasat expects to meet financial growth targets earlier than expected.
It won’t need to replace its damaged ViaSat-3 Americas satellite and will file an insurance claim for a little more than half its $750 million value.
The company said its current and imminent satellite fleet – as well as support from third parties – “will meet the current and future needs” of its key mobility market customers.

A long-exposure photo shows a trail left by SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy rocket while launching the ViaSat-3 Americas satellite from Florida on April 30, 2023.

Viasat shares rose on Thursday after the company said it expects to meet financial growth targets earlier than expected and that it won’t need to replace a damaged $750 million communications satellite.
While Viasat’s investigation into the root cause of the ViaSat-3 Americas satellite malfunction is still ongoing, the company said its current and imminent satellite fleet – as well as support from third parties – “will meet the current and future needs” of its key mobility market customers, despite the lost bandwidth.

The company “is well-positioned to achieve its financial growth objectives” despite the problem. Viasat expects to be free cash flow positive in the first half of 2025, earlier than the second half of 2025 it previously forecast.
Viasat stock jumped as much as 15% in premarket trading from its previous close of $15.63 a share.

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The company in July disclosed the malfunction with the recently launched Viasat-3 Americas satellite, also known as “ViaSat-3 F1,” that occurred while deploying the reflector of the spacecraft’s antenna. On Thursday, Viasat said it “expects to recover less than 10% of the planned” communications capability of the satellite.
The company also expects to finalize a $420 million insurance claim on the ViaSat-3 Americas satellite before the end of the year, representing just over half of the company’s value.
Separately, Viasat on Thursday confirmed it plans to make a $348 million insurance claim before the end of the year for the I6 F2 backup satellite. The company in August reported that I6 F2’s power system malfunctioned.
Together, the pair of Viasat insurance claims total $768 million, which industry executives previously expected would roil the specialty space insurance market. More

Delta Air Lines’ profit rose nearly 60% in the third quarter.
International travel has been a strong spot for carriers.
Delta came under fire from customers last month when it announced it would make it harder to earn elite frequent flyer status.

Delta Air Lines’ profit rose nearly 60% in the third quarter as strong travel demand continued through the summer, particularly for international trips, though the carrier forecast full-year earnings toward the low end of an earlier estimate after a jump in fuel prices.
In its quarterly report Thursday, Delta said it expects adjusted, full-year earnings of $6 to $6.25 a share, after forecasting $6 to $7 a share in July. Delta cut its free cash flow estimate for the year to $2 billion from the $3 billion it forecast in the summer.

Delta said that it expects solid travel demand in the last three months of the year, estimating revenue will rise 9% to 12% from the same quarter of 2022, with per-share earnings of $1.05 to $1.30, in line with estimates.
“We expect many of the same trends to continue in the fourth quarter,” CEO Ed Bastian said in a CNBC interview.

An Airbus A330-323 aircraft, operated by Delta Air Lines.
Benoit Tessier | Reuters

Delta and other airlines trimmed their third-quarter forecasts in recent weeks because of a surge in fuel prices.
“Obviously there’s some short-term pressure on fuel as fuel rose quickly in the third quarter and stayed relatively high into the fourth quarter,” Bastian noted.
Here’s how Delta performed in the three months ended Sept. 30 compared with Wall Street expectations based on consensus estimates from LSEG, formerly known as Refinitiv:

Adjusted earnings per share: $2.03 cents vs. $1.95 expected.
Adjusted revenue: $14.55 billion vs. $14.56 billion expected.

Delta brought in adjusted revenue of nearly $14.6 billion for the period, up 13% year over year and in line with analysts’ expectations.
Net income for the period was $1.11 billion, or $1.72 per share, up 59% from $695 million, or $1.08 per share, during the same period a year earlier. Adjusted for third-party refinery sales and other items, the company earned $2.03 during the quarter.
Delta and other global airlines have cited particularly strong demand for trips abroad, with trans-Atlantic travel a standout. The Atlanta-based carrier reported revenue for those flights was up 34% in the third quarter compared with last year.
Delta’s planes flew 88% full in the quarter, up 1 percentage point from the year-earlier period, despite additional capacity both domestically and internationally. Unit revenue from passengers fell 1.5%, year over year. Airfares have dropped in recent months as airlines grew their schedules.
In addition to a surge in international trips, the carrier has said it has seen a sharp increase in demand for premium seats, like business class or premium economy. Main cabin revenue came in at $6.62 billion, up 12% on the year, while premium product sales rose 17% to $5.11 billion, Delta said.
“I know the lower-fare airlines are having some challenges but our premium product, especially domestically is doing very, very well,” Bastian said in the interview. He added that business travel is more than 80% recovered to 2019 levels.
Delta came under fire from customers last month when it announced it would make it harder to earn elite frequent flyer status and said it will scale back access to its popular airport lounges after travelers experienced long entry lines. Weeks later, Bastian said the carrier would make changes to those new policies, which he said might have gone “too far.”
Bastian declined to provide details but said changes could be announced in the “coming days.”
“Customers almost universally understand we had to do something given the significant demand for our premium assets,” he said.
Delta executives are scheduled to hold a call with analysts and media at 10 a.m. ET.
United Airlines and American Airlines are scheduled to report third-quarter results next week. More

Walgreens offered soft profit guidance and reported fiscal fourth-quarter earnings that fell short of expectations, as demand for Covid vaccines and tests sinks in the U.S. 
The retail pharmacy giant has now underperformed Wall Street’s adjusted earnings expectations for two straight quarters.
Walgreens expects full-year adjusted earnings per share of $3.20 to $3.50 in the coming fiscal year, which is lower than analysts’ estimate of $3.72.

A sign displays the types of COVID-19 vaccination doses available at a Walgreens mobile bus clinic on June 25, 2021 in Los Angeles, California.
Mario Tama | Getty Images

Walgreens on Thursday offered soft profit guidance and reported fiscal fourth-quarter earnings that fell short of expectations, as demand for Covid vaccines and tests sinks in the U.S. 
The retail pharmacy giant – squeezed by the transition out of the Covid pandemic, a leadership shake-up, its wobbly push into health-care and recent labor pressure from pharmacy staff – has now underperformed Wall Street’s adjusted earnings expectations for two straight quarters. The last time Walgreens posted a consecutive earnings miss was nearly a decade ago.

The company said it expects adjusted earnings per share of $3.20 to $3.50 in the coming fiscal year, which is lower than analysts’ estimate of $3.72. Walgreens expects lower Covid-related sales, along with a higher tax rate and lower sale and leaseback contributions, to offset earnings growth. 
Walgreens also sees revenue for the year at $141 billion to $145 billion. Wall Street analysts estimated sales of more than $144 billion.
Here’s what Walgreens reported compared with what Wall Street was expecting, based on a survey of analysts by LSEG, formerly known as Refinitiv:

Earnings per share: 67 cents adjusted vs. 69 cents expected
Revenue: $35.42 billion vs. $34.78 billion expected

The company reported a net loss of $180 million, or 21 cents per share, for the fiscal fourth quarter. That compares with a net loss of $415 million, or 48 cents per share, during the same period a year ago. Excluding certain items, adjusted earnings per share were 67 cents for the quarter. 
Walgreens booked sales of $35.42 billion in the quarter, which is up roughly 9% from the same period a year ago due to growth in its U.S. retail pharmacy and international business segments. 

Sales in the company’s U.S. health-care division also grew. Walgreens noted in a release that it is “intently focused on accelerating” that segment’s profitability moving forward. 
The quarterly results come two days after Walgreens named health-care industry veteran Tim Wentworth as its new CEO following the abrupt departure of the company’s former top executive, Roz Brewer, last month. Wentworth, who will take over on Oct. 23, is tasked with steering the retail pharmacy giant out of a rough spot. 
Walgreens has made significant investments to transform from a major drugstore chain to a large health-care company. But the pharmacy chain is facing a number of challenges in that transition, including a profit squeeze due to softer consumer spending and declining demand for Covid products as patients emerge from the pandemic.
Walgreens is also facing an open revolt among pharmacists and pharmacy technicians, several of whom staged a three-day walkout this week to protest chronic understaffing and other poor working conditions. 
Shares of Walgreens have dropped more than 39% for the year, putting the company’s market value at $19.51 billion. 

Three segments post sales growth

Walgreens’ U.S. retail pharmacy segment generated $27.66 billion in sales in the fiscal fourth quarter, an increase of 3.7% from the same period last year. Comparable sales at individual locations rose 5.7%. 
Pharmacy sales for the quarter increased 6.4% compared with the fiscal fourth quarter of 2022, with comparable sales up more than 9% due to price inflation in brand medications and mix impacts.
Total prescriptions filled in the quarter, including immunizations, decreased by 0.5% to 297 million. Walgreens cited a weaker respiratory virus season this fall, which is blunting demand for medications and vaccines. 
Retail sales for the quarter decreased 4.3% compared with the same period a year ago, and comparable retail sales fell 3.3%. 

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Meanwhile, the company’s international segment racked up $5.78 billion in sales in the fiscal fourth quarter, which is up more than 12% from the same period a year ago. 
Sales in Walgreens’ U.S. health-care segment came in at $1.97 billion, up from $622 million for the same period last year. Its operating loss narrowed to $294 million from $338 million.
Primary-care provider VillageMD, which includes urgent-care provider Summit Health, saw revenue grow by 17%. Walgreens said that reflects “existing clinic growth and clinic footprint expansion” of VillageMD, which has a network of hundreds of full-service doctors offices across the U.S. 
Sales at CareCentrix, which coordinates home care for patients after they’re discharged from the hospital, increased 24% due to additional service offerings and expansion into additional markets. 
The health-care segment took a loss of $30 million in the quarter before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization, compared to a loss of $133 million during the same period a year ago. Walgreens said that “improvement” was driven by growth at CareCentrix and Shields Health Solutions, a specialty pharmacy company included in the health care segment. 
Walgreens will hold an earnings call with investors at 8:30 a.m. ET on Thursday.
– CNBC’s Robert Hum contributed to this article.
Correction: Walgreens’ total prescriptions filled in the quarter, including immunizations, decreased by 0.5% to 297 million. An earlier version misstated a figure. More

United Auto Workers has unexpectedly expanded its U.S. strikes at Ford Motor to a highly profitable SUV and truck plant for the automaker in Kentucky.
The strike was effective at 6:30 p.m. ET Wednesday at Ford’s Kentucky Truck Plant, where it employs 8,700 UAW members to produce Ford Super Duty pickups and the Ford Expedition and Lincoln Navigator SUVS.

United Auto Workers President Shawn Fain, middle, visits striking UAW Local 551 workers outside a Ford assembly center on South Burley Avenue on Saturday, Oct. 7, 2023, in Chicago. 
John J. Kim | Tribune News Service | Getty Images

DETROIT — The United Auto Workers union launched an unexpected strike against Ford Motor at the automaker’s highly profitable SUV and pickup truck plant in Kentucky.
The strike was effective at 6:30 p.m. ET Wednesday at Ford’s Kentucky Truck Plant, where the automaker produces Ford Super Duty pickups as well as the Ford Expedition and the Lincoln Navigator SUVs. The facility employs 8,700 UAW members.

The strike at the plant — Ford’s largest in terms of employment and revenue — marks a major escalation in the UAW’s targeted, or “stand-up,” strikes. It also represents a shift in strategy now in the fourth week of expanded strikes. For previous work strikes, UAW President Shawn Fain has publicly announced the targets before the work stoppages occur.
A Ford source said the union informed the company early Wednesday afternoon that it wanted a new economic counteroffer by 5 p.m. ET, followed by a meeting request for 5:30 p.m. ET with the UAW’s entire Ford bargaining committee, including Fain and union Vice President Chuck Browning.
The source, who agreed to speak on the condition of anonymity because the talks were private, said the meeting lasted less than 10 minutes before Fain declared that the company had “lost Kentucky Truck.”
“The strike was called after Ford refused to make further movement in bargaining,” the union said in a release. “The surprise move marks a new phase in the UAW’s Stand Up Strike.”
A UAW source with knowledge of the talks said Ford did not add any additional cash to its proposed deal, which provoked the strike escalation. The source added the union was expecting Ford to enhance its prior economic offer.

John Bi assembles a Ford truck at the new Louisville Ford truck plant in Louisville, Kentucky.
Bryan Woolston | Reuters

Ford said the “decision by the UAW to call a strike at Ford’s Kentucky Truck Plant is grossly irresponsible but unsurprising given the union leadership’s stated strategy of keeping the Detroit 3 wounded for months through ‘reputational damage’ and ‘industrial chaos.'” 
The latter part of the statement refers to leaked private messages last month in which UAW communications director Jonah Furman discussed the union’s public posturing of issues and targeted strikes as causing “recurring reputations damage and operational chaos” to the automakers.
The companies have argued the messages, as well as the union’s actions, show UAW negotiators were never actually interested in reaching a deal with the Detroit automakers.
“We have been crystal clear, and we have waited long enough, but Ford has not gotten the message,” Fain said in a statement Wednesday. “It’s time for a fair contract at Ford and the rest of the Big Three. If they can’t understand that after four weeks, the 8,700 workers shutting down this extremely profitable plant will help them understand it.”
Ford said the new strike puts at risk approximately a dozen additional operations at the automaker and “many more supplier operations that together employ well over 100,000 people.”
Ford said it had presented an “outstanding offer” and “has been bargaining in good faith this week on joint venture battery plants,” which have been a recent focus of the talks.

General Motors last week agreed to include workers at its electric vehicle battery plant in the company’s national contract with the union, which Fain called a “transformative win.”
Fain said the union expects Chrysler parent Stellantis and Ford to follow suit, including battery plant workers in eventual contract agreements.
The UAW has been gradually increasing the strikes since the work stoppages began after the sides failed to reach tentative agreements by Sept 14.
The additional workers brings UAW’s total to about 34,000 U.S. workers, or roughly 23% of UAW members covered by the expired contracts with the Detroit automakers, who are currently on strike.
Fain will give bargaining updates and potentially announce further strikes at 10 a.m. Friday online, the union said Wednesday night. More